1. A catering company prepared and served 300 meals at an anniversary celebration last week using eight workers. The week before, six workers prepared and served 240 meals at a wedding reception. a. For which event was the labor productivity higher? Explain. b. What are some possible reasons for the productivity differences? 2. The manager of a crew that installs carpeting has tracked the crew's output over the past several weeks, obtaining these figures: PROBLEMS Week Crew Size Yards Installed 1 4 96 2 3 72 3 4 92 4 2 50 5 6 3 2 69 52 Compute the labor productivity for each of the weeks. On the basis of your calculations, what can you conclude about crew size and productivity? 3. Compute the multifactor productivity measure for each of the weeks shown for production of chocolate bars. What do the productivity figures suggest? Assume 40-hours work in a week and an hourly wage of $12. Overhead is 1.5 times weekly labor cost. Material cost is $6 per pound. Week Output (units) Workers Material (lbs) 1 30,000 6 450 2 33,600 7 470 3 32,200 7 460 4 35,400 480 4. A company that makes shopping carts for supermarkets and other stores recently purchased some new equipment that reduces the labor content of the jobs needed to produce the shopping carts. Prior to buying the new equipment, the company used five workers, who produced an average of 80 carts per hour. Workers receive $10 per hour, and machine cost was $40 per hour. With the new equipment, it was possible to transfer one of the workers to another department, and equipment cost increased by $10 per hour, while output increased by four carts per hour. a. Compute labor productivity under each system. Use carts per worker per hour as the measure of labor productivity. b. Compute the multifactor productivity under each system. Use carts per dollar cost (labor plus equipment) as the measure. c. Comment on the changes in productivity according to the two measures, and on which one you believe is the more pertinent for this situation.